<p>SDon, I agree that Tisch is very concerned in this regard. They are extremely encouraging of student productions, not only of existing work, but of student written work. So, those of you who are adding this to your list of things to look for in a program, it’s a good idea to also inquire about the frequency, and support, of student written shows.</p>
<p>My D had this near the top of her list when she was applying many years ago. She was already a published playwright while she was in high school, and writing was as dear to her as performing. She was very fortunate during her years at Tisch to nurture her writing talent as well as her acting, and she was involved in many student productions and several student written works. She also was a part of a theatre company, made up of students and a few pros in the city, to develop and perform original pieces. This, ultimately, led to where she is today and the fact that she has been very fortunate in being gainfully, and continuously, employed for almost five years now! </p>
<p>The development of new works, whether musical or straight plays, is essential to the future of the theatre world. Any college that encourages and supports this for its students is worthy of praise.</p>
<p>I think that more often than not (although not always) the student produced shows are non-musical because it’s cheaper and easier in so many ways.</p>
<p>So many students discussed above are doing some great work in creating new theater and that really is what the theater world needs. I get the feeling that many on this forum who are looking into colleges for MT tend to only think in terms of mainstage productions and all that jazz (which is also an important part of the college experience) but many of these other experiences (IF the college offers them and some do…some really care about creating artists and not simply singers/actors/dancers) really can build and build and continue beyond graduation as evidenced by several of us above who have kids who are now out of college. In observing my kid’s journey so far, I see one experience after another that leads to another between networking and so on. My daughter continues to maintain an attitude that instead of waiting for work to come to her, she is going to make work so she can continue to perform. So far, she has done so.</p>
<p>Here is a journey of just ONE student created musical (the one my D wrote senior year of college) and I’m leaving out some specific names on purpose and so sorry if some vagueness. I share this as an example of what can develop with one student created work in college… D wanted to write her first musical before graduating college and so she did senior year as part of what is called Independent Projects at ETW studio at Tisch. She also played a lead in the musical (she purposely created a piece for herself to get to perform in). The summer after graduation, a concert version of her musical (which went through further development) was staged to a full house at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in NYC. The following spring, her musical was selected to be workshopped at a significant musical theater development “organization” as one of two new musicals. The two week workshop of her show was directed by a Broadway director. From there, her musical was selected to be showcased at a major MT festival in NYC for the industry from NYC and across the US. Based on that, her musical got an Equity production at a small theater in NYC, which she also performed in. Also based on the festival showing, a major theater on the West Coast commissioned her to write/compose a new musical for them (the other commissions went to Broadway composers/writers/lyricists, some who have won Tony awards). She is on a plane to that theater as I write this. Her original musical from college was also selected as a Richard Rogers Award Finalist. She just got word that this musical has been selected as a mainstage musical at a college BFA in MT program for next year. She found out last night that the Broadway director who directed her first musical workshop asked her to a very small gathering that honors the donors to the MT organization where her musical was workshopped in 2010 and asked her to speak at it and perform from her musical at this small gathering, and the list of the people attending is like a who’s who from the theater directing, producing, and composing world. She submitted her first musical written originally at Tisch and was selected as a Fellow at the MacDowell Colony, the oldest artist colony in the US and she just returned from her residency there and wrote new material in her private studio there, the studio where Thornton Wilder wrote Our Town in. It was an incredible experience. And then she was named composer in residence plus commissioned for a new work at a theater in NYC this year. All these things I just listed are ALL from her first and only original musical so far that she created as a new work while a student at Tisch. </p>
<p>I share this as how student created, produced and directed works can go on beyond college. Just this ONE experience alone at Tisch in senior year led to all these other ones. And this is just ONE thing she does and has done since graduating, as she is also a performer. I hope some rising college students here consider the value in creating and collaborating to make theater in college. It can pay off down the line. I have to say that she is not nearly the only one from her BFA program doing these sorts of original work post graduation either. And there is a huge network of peers who graduated who write, direct, choreograph, act, sing, dance, etc. who then cast and collaborate with one another after graduation. My D works with a LOT of Tisch alums professionally.</p>
<p>if you are close enough to Ann Arbor, don’t miss Next to Normal next week ( Tues and Wed) at the Arthur Miller. It is student produced/directed/musically directed- but not a BA production- by a freshman directing major… who happens to be my extraordinarily talented nephew! : )</p>
<p>@thatsmyboy - Several of Ds friends are in that production of N2N, which was also written by someone D has worked with, so we all VERY much wish we could see it! Hope they all have a blast next week!</p>
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<p>@amtc - I know! Every time I turn around I hear about another one, which was why I said “some”. It is AMAZING how much work is being done every day on that campus. When I initially heard they produce over 60 shows a year, I didn’t believe it could be that many. Now I find it hard to believe it’s that few!</p>
<p>Student-produced fundraisers also provide amazing experiences for MT kids. </p>
<p>Yesterday D completed a student-run 30-hour-long Dance Marathon at NU that raised over $1.1M. What unforgettable administrative and entertainment-coordination experience the students who produce that event must gain!</p>
<p>And Thursday there will be a fundraising “Show Choir SmackDown” that is yet another chance for student performers, directors and music directors to hone their craft. </p>
<p>How do MT students ever squeeze in homework?</p>
I wasn’t sure where this belonged, but I was thinking about folks who see productions on campus or on YouTube and use them to evaluate the relative quality of programs (in my opinion at significant peril).
Among the MANY important considerations in understanding how to evaluate any production you might see on campus (was it student written/ directed/ produced versus mainstage, was it intended to stretch the actors or to showcase them, etc.) I’ve become aware of some other considerations in recent years.
The first is “how many kids are working professionally off campus and hence are not in the casting pool at school”? Last year, for example, one of the graduates at D’s school who went straight to Broadway I had never seen in a campus production even though D was a junior when he graduated. Since there are many (over 100) great professional theatres within 30 minutes of D’s campus, quite a few kids are working off campus at any given time. Another is “how many concurrent productions are running and/or rehearsing at any time on campus”? At D’s school you will literally NEVER see a single production with all of the school’s top talent as they are always spread between multiple student-directed, mainstage and professional shows that are in various states of rehearsal at any given time. At many smaller schools, everyone auditions for every show.
So for those evaluating schools, please do a lot of research before drawing conclusions about the relative quality of various schools based on productions (either live or YouTube) that you see on campus.
Also, if you see a main stage production in the spring, chances are you will see very few seniors as they are often busy preparing senior showcases or gearing up for life after graduation. In our experience when you see main stage fall productions you are more likely to see seniors at the top of their game. Upper classmen may also choose to do smaller, edgier black box shows (or student-run shows), rather than the standard “warhorses” that please the subscription ticket crowd.
@mom4bwayboy is totally on point. Son is a senior working on showcase and in a student directed and run Chekhov play not in the main stage production; only a handful of seniors in the main stage. Seniors can opt out and many choose to do that.
Yet another consideration is “what was the director/producer’s intent”? For example, the year before last, one of the big student-produced shows that was running on D’s Chicago-area campus during Unifieds had the goal of casting at least one person from every activity and college on campus so, for example, the show featured a basketball player doing her first college show. Another show’s intent might be to cast non-actors or people who have never been on an NU stage. It’s a great idea to know what the casting philosophy was before evaluating a school based on performances.
Not an obvious choice, but Brown University offers a lot of opportunities. There are auditions and performances almost weekly (70-80 productions a year). Undergrads sit on the board that determines the Mainstage schedule. Production Workshop, one of several student groups, controls a building that rivals the theater facilities of some of the LAC’s we visited. Students are constantly writing and work-shopping their own material.
This fall, a freshmen even cast, directed and staged Fiddler on the Roof independent of any organization at all - he just did it.
There seems to me, to be very much a DIY, entrepreneurial spirit there. For better or worse, it seems the inmates are somewhat running the asylum at Brown.
Of course, there is no formal structured MT technical training at Brown, but great resources, faculty and classes for an undergrad who wishes to design their own program of study and practice.
Apologies if I may have already written about this here or in another thread: Pace does a festival of New Work every year (Pace New Musicals) and at least one of the featured productions is a student-written musical – this year’s was a full-length musical cowritten by two juniors. (My S said it was amazing) Pace also offers MT composition classes and student work is featured in several cabarets. At Rider, several students are working on their own original musicals and have had their work produced or showcased in cabarets / master classes, and the school has encouraged them to enter their works-in-progress into competitions and/or local festivals for new works. I also know that students at Ball State have worked on new musicals by students. Hope that helps. Best of luck.